Ferris Kaplan has 25 years of senior marketing experience at large for-profit and nonprofit companies. He is currently a consultant working on business development strategies for DC companies.

Most recently, he was the marketing and sponsorship director for Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax, Virginia, for nearly 11 years. Fair Oaks is among the top 40 largest retail shopping centers in the nation, featuring five department stores and 190 specialty stores. He was in charge of all advertising, public relations, customer services, promotions, events, and the website.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in broadcasting, both from the University of Southern California (USC), Kaplan taught there at night for two years while working at the National Broadcasting Company in Burbank.

Kaplan worked in Los Angeles as a network and studio executive, buying, selling and programming television series and movies. At The Walt Disney Company he was in charge of sales administration for the world’s largest home video company. Kaplan oversaw an office staff of 19 to process more than $600 million of video sales generated by a national network of 35 salespeople.

In 1992, The Humane Society of the United States hired and moved Kaplan to Washington, D.C., to establish their marketing department. After three years of licensing nationally distributed merchandise, he was hired by the American Red Cross to establish their business development and marketing department. His team created and promoted new courses and products for the 1,600 Red Cross chapters nationwide. His favorite creation was “Pet First Aid,” a book that has sold more than 250,000 copies.

Kaplan then worked as Group Senior Vice President for Strategic Planning for the American Advertising Federation, an association of the nation’s largest advertisers, advertising agencies and media.

He has been a panelist and workshop presenter for many organizations; is a Certified Professional Resume Writer; chair of Northern Virginia Community College’s Marketing Program Executive Board; on the Marketing Advisory Board for Fairfax County Public Schools; on the Marketing Advisory Committee for the Fairfax County Convention & Visitors Corporation; and is a member of the Citizens Advisory Committee for the Fairfax County Police Department.

Kaplan has been an adjunct marketing professor at George Mason University since 2008; at Marymount University since 2011; and at Northern Virginia Community College since 2003. He writes a blog, “Marketing in the Real World” on his website http://ferriskaplan.com .